I was thinking the other day…it seems like there are a lot of struggling sales managers out there right now.

With the economy the way it is, it doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in – chances are that you and your sales team are feeling the pinch.

So I was thinking…what if I could just write out five big concepts that really helped to shape my success as a sales leader?

I figured if I could do it using these concepts, then a lot of other people could do it as well…

The truth is…I didn’t start off my sales management career doing too well…in fact, I really didn’t know what I was doing until my first full year.

But I think I was smart enough to realize that I didn’t know much…so I studied how to be great almost non-stop for an entire year.

Also, I was lucky enough to have a really good boss and access to other leadership mentors…their ideas really shaped my thought process as a sales leader.

In my first full year as a sales manager, I began to use some of these ideas and to my suprise, I had my best money year ever, up to that point in time.

I included those five things here.

Here they are:

1. Trust: Get your salespeople to trust you so that they can in turn, produce great results for both themselves and for you.
2. Empowerment: Learn how to empower your salespeople so they don’t have to come to you for every little thing. Learn the key concepts that train your reps to take responsible, correct, consistent action without your intervention needed.
3. Accountability: Set the bar higher and keep raising it! Bring your sales team along by making them fully accountable (this means no excuses, by the way) for their actions and results…whether those results are stupid or stellar.
4. Release of Control: Release your own self limiting/time intensive/hours-sucking control complex, while pushing your sales reps to produce even bigger sales when you’re not with them!
5. Hire great (not just merely good) sales people, coach them, support them then unleash them…and let them be themselves.

These five concepts have made all the difference…and still do to this day.

Ill keep passing on what has helped me so that maybe it’ll help you too.

To learn even more about sales management training, get our free ebook.

Then, post a comment below and tell me what great secrets you learned form some of your mentors in the past that have helped you to trigger explosive sales results with your sales reps?

Washington succeeded not because he was so brilliant (some would even say he was not all that bright), but rather because of the collaborative brilliance of the people he attracted to work in his organization.

Simply put…he hired and retained the right kind of people who complemented his own deficiencies.

What Washington did do exceedingly well is bring an enormous level of self-confidence – the confidence that allowed him to lead individuals who were in most cases, brighter, more articulate and some may argue…even better qualified for the job than he.

He didn’t care though…and he didn’t feel threatened (maybe he did sometimes but the history books are unclear on this point).

My point is this: by hiring people better than he, his team made him look great.

He created an environment where they could flourish…and he was far more successful had he appointed non-threatening candidates.

As a top-performing sales leader, you need to do the same.

He possessed one the key character traits of the superior sales leader:

He had an absence of ego.

In doing so, he drew heavily on the talents of others.

When you have an absence of ego, you can release control.

And when you realese control and allow your reps to flourish, you wont be worried about stealing their thunder. They become the stars!

When they become stars (and they will), the real credit for their success goes to you…because of your brilliance in hiring them!

In fact Washington did so well at hiring the right people…it secured him a spot of Mount Rushmore.

You’ll take your first step to securing your spot on Mount Rushmore if you take ol’ GW’s advice and release your own ego…and hire people smarter and better than you.

Take the first step and order the free tips from the signup on the right side of this blog post.

Then, tell me how you go about hiring top sales people, what strategies work well for you?

Post a comment below.

To learn even more about sales training, get our free ebook.

George Washington had a real knack for hiring top talent.

Lets look at the lineup of his very first cabinet…it included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.

A pretty impressive lineup of direct reports wouldn’t you say?

Certainly, not a stiff in the bunch.

At Sales Management Mastery, one of the major teachings of our program is to hire, then retain top sales talent. Without superior sales consultants, it will be a constant uphill battle for you to achieve the success you truly desire.

But before we can even start discussing that systematic process, we need to talk about you and your “hiring mindset”.

First, when it comes to hiring, it’s essential for you to adopt a  ”Washingtonian” thought process.

He hired not just top talent, but instead hired insanely top talent for his subordinate positions.

So as a sales manager who craves top performance, are your hiring Washington-esque sales talent or are you settling for “someone to just fill the position”?

If so, you need to set the bar higher.

I’m not talking about hiring the kind of sales consultant that merely gets by, I’m talking about recruiting and hiring real talent…historic kind of talent. The kind of talent that will propel your sales to unheard of levels.

Hiring this level of talent takes time, but this is the kind of hiring and screening that we advocate at Sales Management Mastery…and I’ll teach you how to do it in Course 3 (coming soon).

(In the meantime, you can order free Course 1 – “The Trust Account” through the signup on the right side of this blog post).

If you truly want to work less hours, make more money and get promoted or if you simply desire to feel the sheer satisfaction of unleashing the best from your salespeople, then hiring sales people like ol’ G.W. hired his cabinet is a crucial first step.

If that’s the case, then you’ll need to be like George and multiply your talent by hiring people who are better than you…and we’ll discuss that a whole lot more in the next blog post.

Tell what you think and post a comment as to how you hire top talent when recruiting.

To learn even more about sales manager training, get our free ebook.

The Girl Scouts of America was teetering on the edge of extinction when Frances Hesselbein was named president of the organization in early 1976.

The Girls Scouts, an organization comprised of thousands of volunteers from across the fifty states, had been going about their business in a very traditional way for years…but that way was now placing the organization in jeopardy.

Bleeding funding and declining enrollments, Frances knew she need to change things fast or the organization would cease to exist.

But how could she motivate a group of thousands of volunteers?

Because her position had no inherent power to command, she quickly realized that she could not order the necessary changes in behavior.

She knew that she needed to evoke a different style of management.

The genius of Frances was that she understood that by including as many people as possible in the process of change, she could harness the power of others to achieve the important goals she was responsible with achieving.

Her philosophy, like the philosophy of Sales Management Mastery was very clear:

“The more power you give, the more power you get”.

Frances saved the Girl Scouts of America, not by wielding her power, but rather by sharing her power with those of her followers. And none of her followers had high sales quotas to hit in the middle of a recession!

As a sales manager, do you wield power or do you give it away like Frances Hesselbein?

Its tough…with so many initiatives and orders coming down from above and being planted smack dab in the middle of your plate every single day, its difficult not to lapse into a “I order – you do” kind of management style.

In spite of that, top-performing sales mangers rise above the fray and do not succumb to the temptation to command. After all, what sales consultant really wants to be told what to do all day long?

Your job as a top-performing sales manager is to hire and retain top performing salespeople who can think on their own and produce exceptional results on thier own. The top-performing sales manager gets the best out of them by giving away their power, so that the sales rep becomes empowered.

And thats how you lead with “Girl Scout Power”.

Post a response to this post and tell me how you get the best from your sales consultants by giving away your power.

To learn even more about sales management training, get our free ebook.

Ever work for a “Seagull Sales Manager“?

You probably have.

A “Seagull Sales Manager” is a sales manager who seldom interacts with his people but occasionally swoops down, dumps on everybody, and then quickly flies away.

If you haven’t guessed already, this is not exactly the kind of leadership we advocate at Sales Management Mastery…

When you’re all stressed out, sales numbers are plummeting, your reps haven’t brought in any new business in weeks and your boss just called you for the fifth time today to yell at you…do you become a “Seagull Sales Manager”?

Its hard to put your emotions in check and think clearly at times like these…especially in these economic times, when seemingly every prospect is telling your sales reps “no”.

Instead, look at it as an opportunity.

Its in times like these when you need to rise above the pressures, and show your true mettle as a sales manager.

Now is the time to ELEVATE your salespeople, not dump on them…because this is when they need you most.

Anyone can manage a sales team when times are good. But the top sales managers are at their BEST when times are WORST.

This is “the crucible” of sales management.

Establish trust instead. Go ahead, make those “Trust Account” deposits – and do it by making a connection.

(If you dont know what ”The Trust Account” is, then get your copy of the Free Video and Audio on How to Motivate Your Sales Team from the form on the right hand side of this blog!)

To build connections and gain understanding, top-performing sales managers need to come out from behind their desks and embrace a “get in your grill” passion for interaction.

As we learned in my last post, Ken Blanchard called it “Management By Walking Around” or MBWA.

So get out in the environment of your sales reps…all the while you’re making more deposits in “The Trust Account”…

And whatever you do, stay away from the seagulls.

Post a comment to this blog and tell me how you make a connection with your salespeople!

To learn even more about sales training, get our free ebook.